My
project has to do with examining Douglas and Isherwood's notion of consumption
as a way to communicate and make concrete (to others and to the self) the social
and cultural categories and meanings of life. I want to focus on the junction
of Canada and the United States at Niagara Falls, for
its abundance of tourists and tourist atmosphere. 
More specifically, I wish to look at one sector of the tourists, those that are students at the University of Rochester. Through a questionnaire administered at UR, I am trying to determine the extent that UR students are like 'typical' Niagara Falls tourists. Hopefully, I will also interview tourists at Niagara Falls to clarify the differences.
So far, I have interviewed 13 UR students on their previous trips to the Falls, as well as general thoughts on the Falls and Canada. The number of trips taken in a lifetime was a mean of 2.8 per person, and the number of trips in college was a mean of 1.2 per person. When they went, it was usually only for a few hours, not much food or beverage was consumed, and little tourist activities done except to look at the falls. As well, there was a marked absence of souvenirs bought. This seems to be in contrast to the general tourist population, who spend about $232million per year, $81million of which came from restaurants and food service, and the rest split between accommodations, transportation, sightseeing, and shopping. Why are college students so different from the general tourist population?
As well, I am interested in stereotypes of Canada and America held by UR students, and perceptions of US trade partners. Most students picked Japan, China, or Mexico as the biggest trading partner of the US. Only one guessed Canada. As is apparent by the following graphs, Canada is (by a small margin over Japan in imports) our biggest trading partner in both imports and exports. All students interviewed expressed surprise at that revelation. As far as stereotypes of Canada and its people, most students had quite a different perception than is portrayed in the brochure. Most everyone saw Canada as being like the US, but cleaner.
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